Indexing attachment for slotting machines



Allg- 1937. A. TETREAULT 2,090,649

INDEXING ATTACHMENT FOR SLOTTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zrvezdfor:

dWzosTe6rewzzZz5- Z9 M O. li'fiprizey Patented Aug. 24, 1937 UNlTED STAT$ INDEXING ATTACHMENT FOR SLOTTIN MACHINES Amos Tetreault, Newport, R. I.

Application September 16, 1936, Serial No. 101,073

1 Claim.

(Granted under the a amended April 30,

This invention relates to slotting machines and it has a particular relation to indexing attachments for feeding the work toward the cutting tool automatically and in uniform amounts.

The principal object of this invention is the pro-vision of an indexing device of the character described which is actuated by the movement of the cutter head for automatically feeding the work uniformly toward the cutting tool prede- 1o termined amounts with each stroke of the cutter head.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of the type referred to which may be adjusted to vary the amount that the work is fed toward the cutter and which may quickly and easily be removed to permit of a manual operation of the feeding mechanism.

With these and other objects in view, as well as other advantages that may be incident to the use of the improvements, the invention consists in the parts and combinations thereof hereinafter set forth and claimed, and with the understanding that the several necessary elements constituting the same may be varied in proportion and arrangement without departing from the nature and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claim.

In order to make the invention more clearly understood, there are shown in the accompanying drawings, means for carrying the invention into practical use, without limiting the improvements in their useful application to the particular construction, which, for the purpose of explanation, have been made the subject of illustration.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of an indexing device embodying the invention, the slotting machine upon which the device is mounted being illustrated schematically; and I Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the structure shown in Fig. 1 with certain parts shifted laterally from their operative positions for the purpose of clearness.

Referring to the drawings, a slotting machine and improved indexing device is shown as comprising a base ill having a knee II mounted for vertical adjustment thereon. A cross feed base I2 is mounted for sliding movement in a transverse direction on the knee II and has a main work carrier table i3 slidably mounted thereon for longitudinal movement. The base Ill is provided with the usual vertical column hi, over arms l5 and arbor yoke I6, which latter is not employed when the present'attachment is in use.

Secured to one of the pedestals I4 is a guide ct of March 3, 1883, as 1928; 3'70 0. G. 757) member I l within which a cutter head I Bis mounted for vertical reciprocation. This head is actuated in the usual manner by a suitable crank mechanism (not shown) driven by a spindle l9 mounted in the column l4, and carries a cutting tool 5 29 which is removably secured thereto by means of a clamp 2!. The table l3 may be moved horizontally in order to feed the work clamped thereon toward and away from the reciprocating tool 20,

by means of a screw 22, one end of which is 10 threaded into the cross feed base l2 and the other end of which is journalled in a bearing 23 carried by the table it. The screw 22 is usually provided with a hand crank or wheel by means of which the table I? and work may be fed man- 15 ually toward and away from the cutting tool 20, but in the present instance such hand crank is removed and replaced by a ratchet wheel 24, the hub of which is suitably interlocked with the bearing 23 so that the longitudinal movement of the screw in either direction will be transmitted to the table. This ratchet wheel constitutes a part of the indexing device which will now be described. I

Fixed to the table 13 in overhanging relation to the front edge thereof is a bed plate 25 provided with a pair of vertically extending laterally spaced bearing posts 26. A rock shaft 21 is journalled at its ends in the posts 26 and constitutes the support for a pair of lever arms 28 which are 30 fixed thereto, one adjacent to each of the posts 26. Each of these arms overhangs a stem 29 which is screw threaded into the upper end of a rod 3 slidably mounted for vertical movement in a guide sleeve 3| fixed in the overhanging por- 35 tion of the bed plate 25. The stem 29 and rod 3% are urged toward their uppermost positions by a coil spring 32 encircling these posts between a collar 33 provided on the guide 3| and a look not 3 5 threaded onto the stem 29 for engagement 40 with the upper end of the rod 3B. The lower ends of the rods 36 extend a short distance below bed plate 25 and are each provided with a yoked lower extremity 35 which is connected by a link 35 with a block 3'! secured to the outer end of a 45 bifurcated laterally extending lever 38, the arms 39 of which straddle the ratchet wheel 24 and are mounted for vertical swinging movement on the screw 2'2. A pawl MI is pivotally mounted between the arms 39 of each of the levers 38 ad- 50 jacent to the outer ends thereof for engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 24., Either or both of the pawls Ml may be held out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 24 by spring actuated latch pins 4| which are mounted in the the lower end of a vertically extending plate 53.

50 for engagement by a levers 38 for releasable engagement with pieces 42 formed on each of the pawls 40.

The levers 38 and pawls 40 carried thereby are oscillated vertically in order to intermittently rotate the ratchet'wheel 24 and screw 22 in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending upon which of the pawls is in engagement with the ratchet wheel, by means of a lever arm 43, which is fixed to the shaft 21 intermediate its ends and which is provided .with a slot 44 within which a pair of vertically'extending arms 45are adjustably secured by a clamping bolt 46. The arms 45 are also T provided with slots 41 Within which a rearwardly extending arm 48 is adjustably secured by a clamping bolt 49.7 The rear end of the arm 48 is provided with a roller forwardly extending bar 5| which is adjustably secured by a clamp 52 to This plate is provided with a slot 54 adjacent to its upper end for adjustable engagement by a clamping bolt 55 fixed to the forward end of a horizontal bar 56 which is bolted to the vvertically reciprocating cutter head I 8. The bar 56 is formed with a guide flange 51 at its forward end for engagement by the plate 53 so as to prevent the latter from tilting in operation.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that upon each upward stroke of the cutter head I 8 and tool 20, the bar 5| will engage the roller and swing the lever mechanism consisting of the arms 48, 45, 43 and 28, in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, and depress the stems 29 and rods 30 against the action of the springs 32. This movement of the stems 29 and rod 30 will swing the arms and pawls 40 downwardly and rotate the ratchet wheel 24 in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction depending upon which of the pawls tive and which is not. If; for example, the right hand pawl 40 is in operative engagement with the ratchet wheel 23 and theleft hand pawl is held inoperative by its locking pin 4|, the ratchet wheel 24 and screw 22 will be turned in a clockwise direction so as to feed the table and work 40 is opera-- tail clamped thereon toward the cutter 20, the bar 5| entering between the spaced arms 45. The downward movement of the cutter head I8 will release the roller and permit the lever mechanism and parts associated therewith to 'be returned to their initial positions under the action of the springs 32. The degree of rotation of the ratchet wheel 24 and screw 22 may beregulated by adjusting the throw of the lever mechanism through the T several slotted connections described.

An indexing device constructed as above described may be so adjusted as to obtain very fine and accurate cuts of pletely eliminates the element of uncertainty 7 present in machines in which the work is fed manually.

The invention may be and arrangement of the modified in proportion parts by those skilled in the art without departing from the nature and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

The invention described herein may be manu factured and used by et wheel fixed to said screw threaded means, pawl mechanism for rotating'said ratchet wheel, a plunger slidably mounted on said table for opshaft, and

uniform depth and comswinging said second lever with each stroke of said head.

AMOS TETREAUL'I. 

